As a side project, I've decided to make a hack of FE10 that heavily changes the experience and also improves upon the difficulty curve. The hack has been tuned around normal mode, offering a difficulty level even beyond that of the vanilla hard mode, with the exception of the early chapters. This is to make the game much more challenging while still retaining mechanics such as the weapon triangle, enemy ranges and normal EXP gain etc...

The intention with the hack is creating an entirely separate experience to the original game for those who would enjoy to play Radiant Dawn in a new manner. While the balancing and mechanics have been changed drastically from the original game, this should hopefully provide an experience that can be enjoyed separately from the original.

Here is the change log below, split up into different sections. Not every change is included here, but most are.

Short Spears in 1-E outside of Jarod are incorrectly locked to them (immune to Disarm)

Description of Bronze Knife is not updated properly

Resolve incorrectly says that it's only equipable by Marshalls (when it's no longer an equipable skill to begin with)

Part 2 growths are yet to be listed

Dragon Fang should not be droppable in 2-2 (is meant to be purchasable in 2-E instead)

FAQ

Q: "How do I play this hack?"

A: All you'll need to play this is a working emulator, a fresh FE10 (NA) ISO, and a program used to patch the file (to the ISO) I have provided. PFF-O-Matic works fine. Patch the ISO file using that program and you're good to go. There are actually two versions of the patch since there seems to be two versions of the NA ISO. So if one of them fails then do try the other. Chances are, one of them will work.

Q: "What were the main goals with this hack?"

A: The primary goal is to improve the overall balance of the game as well as offer increased strategic diversity to the cast of characters and weapons/items/skills that exist. Enemies are also changed to scale harder, and some mechanics such as Biorhythm or MTA become more interesting and impacting. The aim of Part 4 in particular is to make the full cast of characters able to fully contribute and a rebalance of enemies completely in order to provide an engaging and satisfying challenge. Otherwise, while the early part 1 chapters are slightly easier, the rest of the game should offer an extra challenge – while allowing you experiment with far more units, skills and strategies.

Q: "The game is harder now? Why in Tellius is that!?"

A: It is now harder in parts of the game that weren't particularly challenging in the original game. The latter half of part 1, most of part 2 and particularly part 3 and beyond. The DB chapters should overall be less frustrating however due to the improved number of strong units (All of them?) that you have. Those early chapters are certainly easier now.

Q: "What difficulty should I play?"

A: Normal mode. Past chapter 1-5, the game is notably harder compared to the original game. Easy mode hasn't been tested thoroughly enough to recommend. That needs a bit of clean up as of now. Should be done for the next update. For hard mode, the plan is to actually have its shop changed to have its own Bargains. Currently, it's still the old set. This release only has normal mode completed (aside from future tweaks).

Q: "Any general tips?"

A: Always take biorhythm into account. Check for steal-ables. I recommend to get all of your tier 1 units to around level 14-16 before promotion (Master Seals can be purchased starting 1-7), although feel free to favour a couple units and get them to ~18. Train any Laguz you want too. One of either Tormod/BK may be wise at endgame, with or without Florish. Don't be afraid to save your money too -- They'll be lots to buy on 1-9 or 1-E!

Q: "Why did you feel this game needed changing? You're ruining the original integrity!"

A: If you do feel that way, I apologize. However, the game still exists in its initial format should you wish to play it. I'm not advocating that this version is generally "better". You don't need to accuse me of that. Please accept this.

Q: "Why are the promotion bonuses for HP so high!?"

A: To feel meaningful. It allows the unit to take maybeone more hit on average. That isn't particularly amazing still, but does make a reasonable difference now.

Q: "Laguz are terrible now. I'm sure of it."

A: I would highlysuggest you play first before coming to that conclusion. The intention is that they are weaker but practical at the same time, due to growth/scaling.

Q: "Why is Meg so tanky? That doesn't make any sense!"

A: I'm so sorry. She may indeed be a bit too tanky for a Pegasus Knight. Will re-evaluate.

(Yes, there were/are all legitimate questions!)

Give me any feedback you can. Enjoy!

CHANGELOG PATCH 0.8.72 (CH 2-2)

Spoiler

[GENERAL]
- Magic WTA effectiveness removed against weapons (such as Anima > Swords)
- The [Aura] passive now reduces damage taken by 6 (down from 7)
- All Laguz weapons now have +1 MT and +5 HIT
- Laguz weapons now all take longer to reach SS

[1-4]
- Seraph Robe in the top right chest has now been replaced by a Speedwing
- Energy Drop is now is a hidden treasure rather than a Master Seal

[1-5]
- Ashera Icon is now stealable rather than a Master Seal
- Arms Scroll is now is a hidden treasure rather than a Ruin tome
- Added a droppable Red Gem on a Seer
- Seers with Light Tomes now replaced with Ellight

[1-6]
- White Gem now drops instead of a Red Gem
- Statue Frag is now is a hidden treasure rather than a Master Seal
- Howl Scroll is now is a hidden treasure rather than a Coin

[1-7]
- Dragon Fang is now is a hidden treasure rather than a Master Seal

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I like some of the changes, most notably Micaiah actually having speed and Fiona's bases being adjusted. I'm a bit iffy about some of the other stuff, but I'd have to play it before I make any judgments. I really liked your FE6 Redux hack and I hope this one lives up to the same standards.

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Interesting. Although, I have to say, Edward looks powerful as hell. Honestly, I'd just make Fiona a tier 2 unit and call it a day. Fiona's problem isn't just her bases and growths, it's her level, with her bases and her growths and how long she's around to actually fight. She should just be Tier 2 and like level --/10. You get her for so few chapters, that she may as well be a god in them. After all, she has no supports, and will be competing with royals, so she needs to be awesome to even be in the same league.

Micaiah gets my approval though. She's actually an offensive machine. Especially with that dark affinity. She gets +3 attack at the start of the game. Certainly enough to overcome that nasty problem of being at WTD against mages. However, I DO have a question, are seals going to be more common? Because if not, I'd rather just have the leveling curve be such that the DB promotes easier on natural levels than anything else.

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The other problem with Fiona is the chapters she is around for, her class really screws her over. Lack of movement, especially on the river chapter. I used her and Meg once and they basically couldn't do anything until the end-game levels were around, which were more accessible.

I'd be down for switching Fiona out with another character altogether, maybe have her come in a different part like part 3.

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Ahh... an improved version of my favorite videogame.Most of the balance issues seem to be fixed. The new skill ideas are pretty cool. Sothe can steal lots of stuff, if Leo disarms an opponent.

Tbh I wouldn't have changed that many growthrates. Only Meg, Fiona, Leo need buffs, Micky a better speed growth and Jill more base HP and strength.

I mean Edward only needed 1-2 base strength and speed. His bad speed growth of 40% can turn into a serious problem for him in the earlygame since he even has trouble to double stuff in regular FE10.

Nolan's strength was his main weakness and nerfing it down to 30% discreases his usefulness in part 1 since he gets speed penalty with his steel axe. If he doesn't get strength or speed in his first level up, he'll get doubled.

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The growth tweaks are just a means to reach average stats and caps in tier 1. Miaciah still caps magic with a 55% growth.

Fiona is actually fine. I didn't just do these changes, test once and call it a day. I playtested this about 15 times constantly experimenting with units. With changes to enemies as well, then more tweaks felt needed.

There's a reason for everything.

Meg has bad luck so Fortune is useful.

Laura has low magic so that A) Her utility staves aren't too powerful and B) She can't promote, double everything and be a better combat unit than other mages.

Jill/Nolan has bad STR growths because their promotion bonuses are high.

etc etc...

The other problem with Fiona is the chapters she is around for, her class really screws her over. Lack of movement, especially on the river chapter. I used her and Meg once and they basically couldn't do anything until the end-game levels were around, which were more accessible.

I'd be down for switching Fiona out with another character altogether, maybe have her come in a different part like part 3.

Fiona has Celerity and has a really good performance in Endgame, so long as you give her a few levels in 1-7.

In any case, feel free to calculate her 10/1 stats and see how decent they are.

Also, try and unlearn concepts you know about the game. Paladin's/Gold/Silvers have good caps now. Their movement penalties are further compensated.

Honestly, I'd just make Fiona a tier 2 unit and call it a day.

Tried it -- wasn't too fond of it. Some units should need some investment to be immediately good.

Fiona is okay with a master seal with 2k gold. But you can choose to give her levels first in 1-7. That balance is fair. I wouldn't want to just give you another easy prepromote.

She has 8 movement indoors now by default. Her only real weakness is ledges but in 1-Eyou can throw her pass as well and she can charge ahead reasonably well.

Interesting. Although, I have to say, Edward looks powerful as hell

Edward's strength and defense caps are not particularly great. His great growths / low caps just means that while his promoted bases have less potential, he can afford to promote earlier and be better for it. Same goes for all the other tier 1s.

Caps are fairly low across the board. Any of the units, except maybe Micaiah, can never be particularly amazing to begin with at tier 2. Or perhaps Ilyana if she caps speed -- but she is justified since she is pure investment for the mercenaries in the long run.

However, I DO have a question, are seals going to be more common?

Yes. There are 10 in total and cost only 2000g each.

Give Micaiah 3 authority stats instead of 1. You need all the avoid you can get for earlygame Edward and 3-6 and 3-13

I'd rather just balance enemies than do this. Besides, the game is meant to be harder (since you'll have way more useful units) not easier.

Nolan's strength was his main weakness and nerfing it down to 30% discreases his usefulness in part 1 since he gets speed penalty with his steel axe. If he doesn't get strength or speed in his first level up, he'll get doubled.

Oh, I know this. I know this. Once again, I've tested enough that this change just works better in context to other units.

Nolan gains +4 strength on promotion. It's just to gate him a bit more early on. Promoting Nolan at 15/1 can be done early if you need him to be stronger.

Nerf the hell out of the pre-promotes in part 1 such as Tauroneo, Muarim, Tormod, Nailah, etc. Then when they re-join in part 4 they can be buffed back to appropriate stats for that point in the game.

That's actually been done. Nailah, if you'd noticed, has 6 MT with her weapon to begin with and only decent stats. She has amazing growths and fast WEXP though, so when she rejoins, should become usable.

His bad speed growth of 40% can turn into a serious problem for him in the earlygame since he even has trouble to double stuff in regular FE10.

He has +2 base speed and has 22 speed at 13/1. =p

EDIT: In any case, units are only good/bad relative to one another. Someone like Nolan has even less to complete with when it comes to the changes for Sothe or Volug. Fiona is comparatively strong at just 13/1.

Within context, you'd have to look at enemy changes, skill availability, weapon availability etc... To actually compare units even further. Nolan in particular starts with an Iron Axe, has the Short Axe and Killer Axe available, the Crossbow at endgame, can support with Leonardo for +4 defense. Gains huge STR on promotion. Still has an early lead etc...

Nolan's still awesome, so a lower STR growth is really negligible and likely needed.

Same goes for all other units. With an arm's scroll Fiona can use the Silver Lance + Short Spear, and can immediately promote for good bases. Leonardo has The steel longbow + Cross bow to deal good damage regardless of STR. Laura has Physic, Unlock, Ward etc... so many utility options.

Meanwhile Tauroneo no longer doubles. Same for the Black knight. Tormod rarely 1RKOs with Fire and Nailah has an iffy transformation gauge with only decent stats. She untransforms when entering combat only 4 times, but gains gauge per turn. So you can't overuse her -- but sparingly is fine.

On that note, each Laguz has a unique gauge. Cats now actually gain gauge with combat, but lose far more per turn. Wolves lose a lot per battle but gain a lot per turn. So the way tyou would use each of them greatly differs. Each Heron is extremely unique also. Leanne almost transforms/transforms on a turn by turn basis, with her movepseed vastly changing each time.

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Just to mention: I would appreciate if there's anyone who can test through at some point and point out some specific areas that need tweaking. For example, the kind of feedback that would be good is "X unit > Y unit on 1-7, or Z unit should double X on 1-E, but on average doesn't". Or "This weapon/skill is too strong/weak in practice, I don't know why I wouldn't/would buy it". "Meg's stats don't justify her movement on Y map"? Things like that -- just any specific balance concerns with context applied. Or difficulty concerns. For example, if specific enemies are too weak or strong then point that out. I'd definitely be willing to make further changes based on that -- because I may not have absolutely tested everything with every combination of units.

Do keep in mind that units are supposed to be balanced on their average stats. So if you get a blessed or screwed unit, don't let that weigh too heavily on your opinion. If your Edward has 15 speed at level 13 and cannot double -- keep in mind that he should have 18 speed.

Somethings can only be argued within context. Looking at numbers before playing can create a wrong impression.

But if you do have more questions in regards to the data that I have given then feel free to ask. =)

Also feel free to offer suggestions for part 2. What unit changes would you like to see? Should Heather have high magic for Card usage (as opposed to STR)? Should Devdan be the Sentinel glass cannon? Should Geoffrey be balanced around a higher or lower level? Etc...

Do remember that save files should absolutely carry over fine in regards to future updates and part releases. So don't be afraid to play it now. That's a reason I have released this in parts. I wouldn't want people to be forced to restart.

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Hey, good to see this topside. It's clear that you've put a lot of effort into fiddling with the smaller stuff to make more varied playstyles seem plausible instead of simply "use only units with high bases/laguz royals, win game" and I like stuff like that. Personally I would have given Micaiah 2 Authority Stars instead of 1 which would still be low enough that her lack of leadership in-universe is apparent compared to Ike and Tibarn, but after looking through the other changes, 1 seems fine when you start taking the little things into account more.

As for Part 2 suggestions I guess the most obvious first topic would be addressing the huge power gap between Haar and the pegasi. Will Haar receive a substantial nerf or other such that makes him less viable to solo mounds of the game? Do Dracos have their bow weakness reinstated? It says something that in vanilla FE10 Marcia has equal base Speed to Haar with nowhere near as good bases or weapon types.

Elincia already has her niche as a flying healer and with slightly different caps than Seraph Knight, so I guess her big change would be tied to Amiti, if it will still be as powerful as it was in vanilla - I would adjust her bases according to that. Will she still keep the ability to use Imbue? If so, will Mist also? And what would Mist get to make her distinct from Elincia even after class change(aside from the obvious)?

Gatrie already filled a lot of the stat issues armors have in vanilla, so Brom would need some big change to make him distinct from Gatrie. I'm not sure on stat archetypes but maybe you could make Brom more Speed based instead of Gatrie, though at the same time still giving Neph her due?(he did have slightly higher base Speed in FE9) Also maybe buff his sword rank from E to D and give him a Wind Edge? That means he has an immediate ranged option. He should keep his high luck growth though.

Astrid should go back to being a usable growth unit with some big factor she can take advantage of besides Paragon. Her bases were so laughable back in vanilla and her growths didn't help much, maybe give her a reasonable Speed buff so she can keep up with those generics at base and her bb Makalov. she also needs a new face sprite Speaking of, I feel Makalov could use a touch more base Speed or some better initial equipment as all he's got is a dinky Steel Sword while his commanders are running around with Braves and Silvers.

I like Calill as is, but although it makes sense in-universe as to why her magic preference is fire, I wouldn't mind seeing her as a Thunder Sage instead, though this does give Ilyana some more competition down the line(as opposed to her more immediate one with Soren), we'd at least get another Rexbolt user(she is probably the most likeliest to use it after Ilyana in FE9). This does mean we lose out on the eventual Fire/Wind/Thunder aesthetic the mages have when they finally join the GMs though.

Lucia should also get something but I'm not sure what since she already has to compete with the other swordies. Her base Skill and Speed are already high(and should be kept that way for Part 4), so maybe nerf Mia's base Speed to compensate?? Give her access to a Storm Sword instead of a Wind Edge? I got nothin' for her.

but yeah some good work to be sure. I would give this a run if I was really interested in playing this game again, but I'm not sure Dolphin likes my comp anyway. :E

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Hey, good to see this topside. It's clear that you've put a lot of effort into fiddling with the smaller stuff to make more varied playstyles seem plausible instead of simply "use only units with high bases/laguz royals, win game" and I like stuff like that. Personally I would have given Micaiah 2 Authority Stars instead of 1 which would still be low enough that her lack of leadership in-universe is apparent compared to Ike and Tibarn, but after looking through the other changes, 1 seems fine when you start taking the little things into account more.

I think 1 star fits Micaiah fairly well. She isn't a powerful leader and that's often hinted/reflected in the story. She's made a leader because she has... powers I guess?? It makes sense to give her 1 leadership star at least though.

Same for Elincia. In fact, her whole arc is all about being a young ruler with not much experience. CH2-P needs to be harder anyway and 2-F should be really challenging. So that's fine.

I could look into giving Micaiah more leadership stars as the game goes on. That may be possible.

As for Part 2 suggestions I guess the most obvious first topic would be addressing the huge power gap between Haar and the pegasi. Will Haar receive a substantial nerf or other such that makes him less viable to solo mounds of the game? Do Dracos have their bow weakness reinstated? It says something that in vanilla FE10 Marcia has equal base Speed to Haar with nowhere near as good bases or weapon types.

I don't actually plan to give Draco's their bow weakness again but I may consider it. Thunder Magic is way more powerful now, which automatically makes them more vulnerable. I currently plan to have Haar at level 4 with bases to match -- he has so much availability that it makes no sense he is as high level as he is, story reasons aside.

Marcia is now level 1 and should be about the same strength (or more) in the long run. She currently has 5 more speed on Haar at base so... yeah. Haar's base of 16 makes him quite slow, that's for sure. Of course, that's subject to change.

Elincia already has her niche as a flying healer and with slightly different caps than Seraph Knight, so I guess her big change would be tied to Amiti, if it will still be as powerful as it was in vanilla - I would adjust her bases according to that. Will she still keep the ability to use Imbue? If so, will Mist also? And what would Mist get to make her distinct from Elincia even after class change(aside from the obvious)?

Elincia may be able to keep her offense I think, Some slight nerfs to Amiti perhaps. The plan is to make both her and Mist have mediocre magic stats in return for other things. I'd like Mist to be more of a combat unit in any case. Florette is actually really strong -- she just needs the base stats to back it up. Elincia may be good with some nerfed base stats but stronger growths if need be. I do think Amiti should be more situational with its infinite uses and whatnot though.

Gatrie already filled a lot of the stat issues armors have in vanilla, so Brom would need some big change to make him distinct from Gatrie. I'm not sure on stat archetypes but maybe you could make Brom more Speed based instead of Gatrie, though at the same time still giving Neph her due?(he did have slightly higher base Speed in FE9) Also maybe buff his sword rank from E to D and give him a Wind Edge? That means he has an immediate ranged option. He should keep his high luck growth though.

I think Gatrie could do with being more of a middle-man General. Decent speed, strength, good defense. But not as fast as Meg (Meg having ~35 speed cap at tier 3) and not as strong as Brom. But a good balance of all stats. Brom I think could benefit from being the THE tank of the game, with noone matching his defense or even strength. That's the direction I'd want to go with him -- basically vanilla Haar without wings.

Astrid should go back to being a usable growth unit with some big factor she can take advantage of besides Paragon. Her bases were so laughable back in vanilla and her growths didn't help much, maybe give her a reasonable Speed buff so she can keep up with those generics at base and her bb Makalov. she also needs a new face sprite Speaking of, I feel Makalov could use a touch more base Speed or some better initial equipment as all he's got is a dinky Steel Sword while his commanders are running around with Braves and Silvers.

I do think the Knights could use a lot of love overall. Astrid in particular -- a nice balance of strength and speed should be fine for her. She just a better base to start her off and her Paragon should do work from there.

I like Calill as is, but although it makes sense in-universe as to why her magic preference is fire, I wouldn't mind seeing her as a Thunder Sage instead, though this does give Ilyana some more competition down the line(as opposed to her more immediate one with Soren), we'd at least get another Rexbolt user(she is probably the most likeliest to use it after Ilyana in FE9). This does mean we lose out on the eventual Fire/Wind/Thunder aesthetic the mages have when they finally join the GMs though.

Calill I currently plan to make her THE speed mage of the game. A very high base to double right from the start but a low magic stat to offset that a bit. Kind of an extension to what she was in the original game. She could well be tuned to have the best offensive capability of any mage in the game, in return for of course her availability/durability/capped at E or D staves etc....

I was actually considering Sanaki being able to SS rank any offensive magic so I think that has a second Rexbolt user covered. But we'll see.

Lucia should also get something but I'm not sure what since she already has to compete with the other swordies. Her base Skill and Speed are already high(and should be kept that way for Part 4), so maybe nerf Mia's base Speed to compensate?? Give her access to a Storm Sword instead of a Wind Edge? I got nothin' for her.

I think I might just make her have great growths and promotion bonuses. Kind of like Geoffrey/Tormod/Tauroneo. That lets me tune her for the one map she's in early on without making her bad later.

I might make her the 'tanky' swordmaster. Give her both high defense and resistance. Edward only has defense and Zihark/Mia only really have Res, so she is a good candidate for that perhaps.

Mia might well get a nerf overall. Same for all of the GM more or less.

EDIT: Speaking of Gatrie, he may well have be a Sword General now. I don't want him to share the same promotion bonuses as Tauroneo. Heh.

Forgot to add my suggestions for part 2 + 3

Lucia should be lower level (about 7-8), so she can get at least a little bit exp. She also should be playable in 3-9 at least There's a few things I could do with Lucia. I think that due to the nature of her sharing a class with Mia, it's going to hard to balance awesome promotion bonuses. I may well just need to have Lucia be a level ~10 with fantastic growths and a niche over the other swordies.

skills should be removable in 2-E I actually like the fact they cannot be removed -- it makes the part 2 units better. Three units now have Paragon, and I really don't think they should be allowed to shoved all into Ike's group. The incentive would be way way too tempting and ultimately beneficial no matter how you go about it. I like that the Paragons become available to remove/receive at different internals also. Astrid = Part 3, Nealuchi = Part 4 start, Geoffrey = Part 4 end.

Haar should be lower level (about 7-8) with a lower base speed (18-19) to hinder soloing this game Haar is currently testing well at level 4 with 16 base speed. He gains EXP pretty fast so it's not too punishing.

Rhys and Mist need a better base speed, Rhys also a better growth Mist, Sure. But I do think that certain units should have certain weaknesses to make them stand out and Rhys is one of them. Rhys' poor speed just needs to be better counterbalanced with everything else he has. I'd rather go in that direction for him.

Titania's and Shinon's base level and stats also should be nerfed slightly Shinon, yes. There;s two ways I want to try with Titania though. The GMs maps are going to be extremely difficult, so Titania being an actual Jeigan again is something to try. So she starts off as a level 1 Gold Knight while everyone else is level 1-8 in tier 2. Ike being level 5 or so. Titania picks up the slack where necessary but is also an EXP sponge. And having a singular unit like that is healthy if the game is that tough.

florette should attack with magic to make Mist useful in combat She just needs more STR. Making it scale off magic would just make Mist terrible with everything except Florette. I'd rather it just remain a strong weapon only exclusive to her, but she can use other weapons as well. Currently I've set her to have 14 STR and a 45% growth but that may well change still.

Ike's speed should be buffed slightly and therefore Gatrie's should be nerfed This one I do have to disagree with. Ike's base speed is way too good. If anything it should be in the range of 17-19 but I may give him a better growth.

in general the enemies (at least) in part 3 should have higher level or higher stats. Even on HM only very few GMs can rush through these chapters Definitely. Enemies should be higher level with your units being lower level. Gaining EXP is fun! Oh hey Lyre, I heard you like getting 80 EXP per kill?

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Could you list which files on the disc were modified? That way they could be taken out of the ISO and loaded on a real Wii through Riivolution; I presume you wouldn't want to upload the modified files for copyright reasons.

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Do let me know if there are any issues patching and then the game not working. Testing it myself seems to work fine both before and after patching, but if there's an issue with the actual patch then do let me know.

I know Dolphin can be a pain for many people -- personally it took a while for me to configure it perfectly on my end too.

Might I ask why you put Blossom on Sothe? His growths are already pretty good, and the cut exp gain just seems to nerf him more than anything.

Give him 99 EXP through BEXP and level him up.

Or remove his Blossom if you prefer.

It's just an interesting tool for the DB to have and you can remove it from Sothe for one chapter, get him close to 99, or BEXP to 99, and then put it back on him again.

Sparingly giving him BEXP can be effective enough. Or you can just choose to remove it. It only costs 10 capacity now so if you want to 99 BEXP > Level > 99 BEXP > Level someone else you can.

On Hard Mode in particular (should you dare to try it) I can imagine it's the best way to use BEXP in general. My last playthrough I set Fiona to LV11 99 exp for 1-7, then LV12 99 exp for 1-E. Then just let her hit something and then promoted. Was pretty strong.

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Fiona has Celerity and has a really good performance in Endgame, so long as you give her a few levels in 1-7.

In any case, feel free to calculate her 10/1 stats and see how decent they are.

Also, try and unlearn concepts you know about the game. Paladin's/Gold/Silvers have good caps now. Their movement penalties are further compensated.

Interesting. Silver Paladin Females had good caps in the original. It was just the rest that didn't. The issue is that Astrid and Fiona were both horrible.

Tried it -- wasn't too fond of it. Some units should need some investment to be immediately good.

Fiona is okay with a master seal with 2k gold. But you can choose to give her levels first in 1-7. That balance is fair. I wouldn't want to just give you another easy prepromote.

She has 8 movement indoors now by default. Her only real weakness is ledges but in 1-Eyou can throw her pass as well and she can charge ahead reasonably well.

That's fine in the sense of some units. The issue with Fiona is that she has 5 "forced" chapters before she reaches the "bring your best guys" part. Even worse? She can't walk on water so she's forced to be in a tiny corner of the map for one of her four chapters. Her availability is garbage. I don't want to invest in her at all. I want to USE her and feel that she's good from the start and contributing without any effort placed into her. Like healers, or units like Titania. Leaving her unpromoted really doesn't do much for her outside of making her a money sink to keep her up to speed. The rest of the DB sounds like it would be pretty optional. Sort of how it was in the original.

Lucia should be lower level (about 7-8), so she can get at least a little bit exp. She also should be playable in 3-9 at least There's a few things I could do with Lucia. I think that due to the nature of her sharing a class with Mia, it's going to hard to balance awesome promotion bonuses. I may well just need to have Lucia be a level ~10 with fantastic growths and a niche over the other swordies.

I'd honestly just make her stronger. The issue is that her stats are lame for the level she is, her affinity is nothing new, as we already have an earth affinity swordmaster, and he actually has supports, and having a growth unit that joins you so late is just lame. Unless everyone else has terrible stats, comparatively, there's no real point. The issue is that the original basically has Mia as the most easy to use, Zihark as the one with the best natural skill, and Edward is the growth one. Lucia really doesn't have much of a place unless you want a third/fourth swordmaster.

Haar should be lower level (about 7-8) with a lower base speed (18-19) to hinder soloing this game Haar is currently testing well at level 4 with 16 base speed. He gains EXP pretty fast so it's not toopunishing.

You could also opt to have more thunder mages and make the nullify skill appear much later.

Rhys and Mist need a better base speed, Rhys also a better growth Mist, Sure. But I do think that certain units should have certain weaknesses to make them stand out and Rhys is one of them. Rhys' poor speed just needs to be better counterbalanced with everything else he has. I'd rather go in that direction for him.

Honestly, Mist needs more work than Rhys, because at least Rhys has wonderful Physic staff range. Mist has "I don't get OHKOed but your healer shouldn't be attacked anyways because they suck at counter-attacking" syndrome. I'd start by flipping her magic and strength growths and bases respectively. Then flop her defense and res growths (leave the bases alone) That's the problem with these healer/ physical attacker types. They give them terrible growth in strength and okay magic growth which results in them being worse than a mage healer because at least mages can attack reasonably well. Instead, make her an okay fighter in general and a mediocre healer. So long as you give her that, she can frontline respectably and still be worth using for heals because she's better at healing than using a healing item as she gains EXP for it and has more uses than a healing item. I'd probably up her base level and speed though. Level 5 or 6 sounds good, and I'd give her 20 speed. Decent but nothing special for her team.

Are you going to make master crown's necessary to reach 3rd tier?

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You could make Bronze weapons give much higher WEXP (say, 4). This'd make it shorter to get a newly acquired weapon type's rank to at lest D, and it'd still give you a reason to use them later on. They're kinda supposed to be training weapons after all.

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Interesting. Silver Paladin Females had good caps in the original. It was just the rest that didn't. The issue is that Astrid and Fiona were both horrible.

Speed isn't the only thing that matters in a world where enemies are changing too. It's not like the rest of their caps were that great compared to other classes either. Enemy speed will be pretty diverse compared to before and 34 isn't stellar.

Either way, she has her own promo bonuses and unique class/caps. If she needed to be further improved in that regard then that's fine.

Not all units need to be on equal terms. Some units should work differently than others as a means to be good. Fiona's "awkwardness" in regards to her availability and maps is something that could be considered Iconic. She's a victim of circumstance which could well require to be especially strong as a result of it. That's not a bad thing -- it separates her form other units. It makes her different to use.

Same with Lyre. I'm not just going to remove Lyre's identify as "That scrubby Laguz". Sure, her base stats will be a bit better as to make her usable, but growths, combined with fast WEXP gain, a good Laguz gauge, and EXP gain can counterbalance that. I'm not just going to make her another Ranulf.

Making Fiona a powerful prepromote just isn't Fiona.

I can honestly say Fiona is one of the best units in 1-E while requiring few resources. She's fast, durable and what she lacks in STR can be fixed with the Silver Lance or Short Spear. And a Master Seal is a non-resource at this point.

In Part 3 it remains to be seen if she's bad. I'm sure 3-6 is going to involve being rather defensive and her mobility in the other two maps is going to be pretty good. Her stats are more than solid, she's mobile so long as you stick Celerity to her and the goal is to make her excellent in part 4, her her mounted situation counterbalanced by combat efficiency. If that goal is met then that's fine, and i'd give her tweaks in the future if she does not meet that. It's fine for a unit to be a bit slow to begin with though, just not to a massive extent.

That's fine in the sense of some units. The issue with Fiona is that she has 5 "forced" chapters before she reaches the "bring your best guys" part. Even worse? She can't walk on water so she's forced to be in a tiny corner of the map for one of her four chapters. Her availability is garbage. I don't want to invest in her at all. I want to USE her and feel that she's good from the start and contributing without any effort placed into her. Like healers, or units like Titania. Leaving her unpromoted really doesn't do much for her outside of making her a money sink to keep her up to speed. The rest of the DB sounds like it would be pretty optional. Sort of how it was in the original.

Everyone should be usable in Part 4 due to the nature of the Split. The "bring your best guys" should no longer be valid since everyone is deploy-able.

Fiona is great for her base level. With a couple levels of BEXP, or a forge, or a promotion etc... She is fine. Like I said before. Is her 1/10 stats really that terrible? It's about on par with Zihark as far as I'm concerned (just because of +4 DEF and Imbue) and he doesn't even get the luxury of extra levels at tier 1 as an optional bonus.

I'd honestly just make her stronger. The issue is that her stats are lame for the level she is, her affinity is nothing new, as we already have an earth affinity swordmaster, and he actually has supports, and having a growth unit that joins you so late is just lame. Unless everyone else has terrible stats, comparatively, there's no real point. The issue is that the original basically has Mia as the most easy to use, Zihark as the one with the best natural skill, and Edward is the growth one. Lucia really doesn't have much of a place unless you want a third/fourth swordmaster.

For Lucia, I plan to give her some good defenses and great base stats for her level (10). Her growths should also be rather good relative to the amount of levels and EXP she can grow upon rejoining. I think she'll be in a good spot as a result.

Same situation as Geoffrey.

Or ideally, her level 10/1 stats should be proficient by themselves.

Honestly, Mist needs more work than Rhys, because at least Rhys has wonderful Physic staff range. Mist has "I don't get OHKOed but your healer shouldn't be attacked anyways because they suck at counter-attacking" syndrome. I'd start by flipping her magic and strength growths and bases respectively. Then flop her defense and res growths (leave the bases alone) That's the problem with these healer/ physical attacker types. They give them terrible growth in strength and okay magic growth which results in them being worse than a mage healer because at least mages can attack reasonably well. Instead, make her an okay fighter in general and a mediocre healer. So long as you give her that, she can frontline respectably and still be worth using for heals because she's better at healing than using a healing item as she gains EXP for it and has more uses than a healing item. I'd probably up her base level and speed though. Level 5 or 6 sounds good, and I'd give her 20 speed. Decent but nothing special for her team.

I think you largely misinterpreted my post. I automatically accepted that Mist needed to be better by a wide margin (relative to before).

With Rhys I argued that his weakness should remain as an argument to make him better elsewhere -- but not to remove his weaknesses. Units just need to be distinct from on another. So I'm happy to have Rhys have superb magic -- it's currently set to be the highest in the game, with the Saint cap being beyond 40.

Mist definitely needs to be a better combat unit, but an average healer. She has a lot of mobility past promotion so healing-wise should be good enough. She'll probably have 10 movement, the same as Gold/Silver knights.

Mist is still level 1 because it makes little sense to be higher. Ike is now level 5 for instance and everyone else is lower. The mercenaries start too over-leveled to begin with, considering they get so much screen time.

Are you going to make master crown's necessary to reach 3rd tier?

No, but they'll be purchasable for 2000g like Master Seals I'd imagine. Units should be allowed to promote when they want, considering there's a sacrifice in doing so. Especially with stat caps being harder to reach at tier 2.

Responses in red.

You could make Bronze weapons give much higher WEXP (say, 4). This'd make it shorter to get a newly acquired weapon type's rank to at lest D, and it'd still give you a reason to use them later on. They're kinda supposed to be training weapons after all.

Not a bad idea at all. I think I'll do just that for the next update.

Aside from their hit rates they really don't have much incentive to be used. So an extra niche should be fine.

Infinite uses might be plausible as well.

It's worth mentioning though that all new weapon ranks are all at least D. I don't think it's acceptable that newly promoted units should be forced to use Bronze weapons. It's just gimmicky for the sake of... what exactly? Might as well just stick them to their main weapon.

While new weapons at third tier are all at least C.

Edited August 13, 2015 by DLuna

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Speed isn't the only thing that matters in a world where enemies are changing too. It's not like the rest of their caps were that great compared to other classes either. Enemy speed will be pretty diverse compared to before and 34 isn't stellar.

Sure, I just felt that the movement that get is worth having inferior caps to say Sentinels. Worse? Definitely, but canto is that powerful of an ability that they deserve to not have super stats. The issue with Gold Knights is that they don't have enough speed and they don't have enough of the other stats to compensate. Silver females had *enough* speed to do things, but not enough.

Either way, she has her own promo bonuses and unique class/caps. If she needed to be further improved in that regard then that's]...

I suppose, I just felt the issue if Fiona herself. If she joined when Nolan had, it wouldn't be so bad. I haven't played Part 1, so we'll see how it works in practice.

Everyone should be usable in Part 4 due to the nature of the Split. The "bring your best guys" should no longer be valid since everyone is deploy-able.

Fiona is great for her base level. With a couple levels of BEXP, or a forge, or a promotion etc... She is fine. Like I said before. Is her 1/10 stats really that terrible? It's about on par with Zihark as far as I'm concerned (just because of +4 DEF and Imbue) and he doesn't even get the luxury of extra levels at tier 1 as an optional bonus.

I'm not sure I understand the first part.

Sort of? Is Zihark only expected to gain 2 levels over the course of the game from where he joins? If yes, then then she's fine (I'd argue Zihark is in trouble then. He will have speed and adept over her really as swords have less might than lances so he'll be doing about the same damage to her per hit, and less when fighting at WTD ). If no, then she's not fine.

I think you largely misinterpreted my post. I automatically accepted that Mist needed to be better by a wide margin (relative to before).

With Rhys I argued that his weakness should remain as an argument to make him better elsewhere -- but not to remove his weaknesses. Units just need to be distinct from on another. So I'm happy to have Rhys have superb magic -- it's currently set to be the highest in the game, with the Saint cap being beyond 40.

Mist definitely needs to be a better combat unit, but an average healer. She has a lot of mobility past promotion so healing-wise should be good enough. She'll probably have 10 movement, the same as Gold/Silver knights.

Mist is still level 1 because it makes little sense to be higher. Ike is now level 5 for instance and everyone else is lower. The mercenaries start too over-leveled to begin with, considering they get so much screen time.

Yeah, it seems I did. It seems we both did.

I was saying that Rhys has a strength while Mist really didn't outside of 1 movement and being able to take a hit (but neither should be attacked is what I was saying). High magic for him works.

That's some crazy movement. Does she have the most?

I see. Yeah, that makes sense. Less third tiers going around too.

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Not sure about the infinite uses. If anything, I'd reduce their uses a lot (currently 50, the highest of normal weapons), maybe even down to 20, as they'll be cheap and avaliable from the beggining. 20 is still more than very early-game enemies will get to use before dying, even 15 would be.

You could also rename them to "Training" weapons instead of "Bronze", though that'd bring the question of what are those bandits doing with them...

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That's essentially the same as saying they should be expensive. And I really doubt people would bother with them since weapon ranks aren't exactly difficult to increase in this game and there are quite a few arms scrolls.

The sacrifice of using Bronze weapons in any scenario is the fact the are weak. I don't see why they should have low uses or anything.

The real question is: why have uses to begin with? They are the worst weapons. I don't think they even need to be a gold sink whatsoever. They need more incentive to be used. Not less.

The only purpose of uses is gold value so... I don't see why that's necessary. I doubt someone who's playing really efficiently will care to use them at all considering the higher ranked weapons that are available are easily reached with just normal weapon uses or arms scrolls.

I'd have to completely rework weapon ranks to make Bronze weapons great in this regard. I'd rather just leave them as a nice bonus though. The idea is solid but I don't think they'll be vastly used or anything.